Bit interleaver for low-density parity check codeword having length of 64800 and code rate of 4/15 and 256-symbol mapping, and bit interleaving method using same

ABSTRACT

A bit interleaver, a bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) device and a bit interleaving method are disclosed herein. The bit interleaver includes a first memory, a processor, and a second memory. The first memory stores a low-density parity check (LDPC) codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15. The processor generates an interleaved codeword by interleaving the LDPC codeword on a bit group basis. The size of the bit group corresponds to a parallel factor of the LDPC codeword. The second memory provides the interleaved codeword to a modulator for 256-symbol mapping.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2014-0026681 and 10-2015-0009440, filed Mar. 6, 2014 and Jan. 20, 2015, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to an interleaver and, more particularly, to a bit interleaver that is capable of distributing burst errors occurring in a digital broadcast channel.

2. Description of the Related Art

Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation (BICM) is bandwidth-efficient transmission technology, and is implemented in such a manner that an error-correction coder, a bit-by-bit interleaver and a high-order modulator are combined with one another.

BICM can provide excellent performance using a simple structure because it uses a low-density parity check (LDPC) coder or a Turbo coder as the error-correction coder. Furthermore, BICM can provide high-level flexibility because it can select modulation order and the length and code rate of an error correction code in various forms. Due to these advantages, BICM has been used in broadcasting standards, such as DVB-T2 and DVB-NGH, and has a strong possibility of being used in other next-generation broadcasting systems.

However, in spite of those advantages, BICM suffers from the rapid degradation of performance unless burst errors occurring in a channel are appropriately distributed via the bit-by-bit interleaver. Accordingly, the bit-by-bit interleaver used in BICM should be designed to be optimized for the modulation order or the length and code rate of the error correction code.

SUMMARY

At least one embodiment of the present invention is directed to the provision of an intra-BICM bit interleaver that can effectively distribute burst errors occurring in a broadcasting system channel.

At least one embodiment of the present invention is directed to the provision of a bit interleaver that is optimized for an LDPC coder having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15 and a modulator performing 256-symbol mapping and, thus, can be applied to next-generation broadcasting systems, such as ATSC 3.0.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bit interleaver, including a first memory configured to store a low-density parity check (LDPC) codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15; a processor configured to generate an interleaved codeword by interleaving the LDPC codeword on a bit group basis, the size of the bit group corresponding to a parallel factor of the LDPC codeword; and a second memory configured to provide the interleaved codeword to a modulator for 256-symbol mapping.

The 256-symbol mapping may be NUC (Non-Uniform Constellation) symbol mapping corresponding to 256 constellations (symbols).

The parallel factor may be 360, and each of the bit groups may include 360 bits.

The LDPC codeword may be represented by (u₀, u₁, . . . , u_(N) _(ldpc) ⁻¹) (where N_(ldpc) is 64800), and may be divided into 180 bit groups each including 360 bits, as in the following equation:

X _(j) ={u _(k)|360×j≦k<360×(j+1),0≦k<N _(ldpc)} for 0≦j<N _(group)

where X_(j) is an j-th bit group, N_(ldpc) is 64800, and N_(group) is 180.

The interleaving may be performed using the following equation using permutation order:

Y _(j) =X _(π(j)) 0≦j≦N _(group)

where X_(j) is the j-th bit group, Y_(j) is an interleaved j-th bit group, and π(j) is a permutation order for bit group-based interleaving (bit group-unit interleaving).

The permutation order may correspond to an interleaving sequence represented by the following equation:

interleaving sequence={13 121 137 29 27 1 70 116 35 132 109 51 55 58 11 67 136 25 145 7 75 107 45 21 127 52 90 22 100 123 69 112 155 92 151 59 5 179 44 87 56 139 65 170 46 0 124 78 166 8 61 97 120 103 4 19 64 79 28 134 93 86 60 135 126 53 63 14 122 17 150 76 42 39 23 153 95 66 50 141 176 34 161 26 106 10 43 85 131 2 147 148 144 54 115 146 101 172 114 119 3 96 133 99 167 164 9 142 68 149 94 83 16 175 73 38 143 159 130 84 169 18 138 102 72 47 32 160 82 81 168 30 12 173 156 158 125 98 62 178 48 163 117 110 91 37 80 105 31 174 111 49 113 108 74 157 128 24 118 40 88 177 154 6 162 129 77 36 165 20 89 140 15 33 104 152 71 171 57 41}

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bit interleaving method, including storing an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15; generating an interleaved codeword by interleaving the LDPC codeword on a bit group basis corresponding to the parallel factor of the LDPC codeword; and outputting the interleaved codeword to a modulator for 256-symbol mapping.

In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a BICM device, including an error-correction coder configured to output an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15; a bit interleaver configured to interleave the LDPC codeword on a bit group basis corresponding to the parallel factor of the LDPC codeword and output the interleaved codeword; and a modulator configured to perform 256-symbol mapping on the interleaved codeword.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a broadcast signal transmission and reception system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart illustrating a broadcast signal transmission and reception method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a parity check matrix (PCM) corresponding to an LDPC code to according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the bit groups of an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the bit groups of an LDPC codeword having a length of 16200;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating interleaving that is performed on a bit group basis in accordance with an interleaving sequence;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a bit interleaver according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart illustrating a bit interleaving method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Repeated descriptions and descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that have been deemed to make the gist of the present invention unnecessarily obscure will be omitted below. The embodiments of the present invention are intended to fully describe the present invention to persons having ordinary knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains. Accordingly, the shapes, sizes, etc. of components in the drawings may be exaggerated to make the description obvious.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a broadcast signal transmission and reception system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that a BICM device 10 and a BICM reception device 30 communicate with each other over a wireless channel 20.

The BICM device 10 generates an n-bit codeword by encoding k information bits 11 using an error-correction coder 13. In this case, the error-correction coder 13 may be an LDPC coder or a Turbo coder.

The codeword is interleaved by a bit interleaver 14, and thus the interleaved codeword is generated.

In this case, the interleaving may be performed on a bit group basis (by a unit of a bit group). In this case, the error-correction coder 13 may be an LDPC coder having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15. A codeword having a length of 64800 may be divided into a total of 180 bit groups. Each of the bit groups may include 360 bits, i.e., the parallel factor of an LDPC codeword.

In this case, the interleaving may be performed on a bit group basis (by a unit of a bit group) in accordance with an interleaving sequence, which will be described later.

In this case, the bit interleaver 14 prevents the performance of error correction code from being degraded by effectively distributing burst errors occurring in a channel. In this case, the bit interleaver 14 may be separately designed in accordance with the length and code rate of the error correction code and the modulation order.

The interleaved codeword is modulated by a modulator 15, and is then transmitted via an antenna 17.

In this case, the modulator 15 may be based on a concept including symbol mapper (symbol mapping device). In this case, the modulator 15 may be a symbol mapping device performing 256-symbol mapping which maps codes onto 256 constellations (symbols).

In this case, the modulator 15 may be a uniform modulator, such as a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulator, or a non-uniform modulator.

The modulator 15 may be a symbol mapping device performing NUC (Non-Uniform Constellation) symbol mapping which uses 256 constellations (symbols).

The signal transmitted via the wireless channel 20 is received via the antenna 31 of the BICM reception device 30, and, in the BICM reception device 30, is subjected to a process reverse to the process in the BICM device 10. That is, the received data is demodulated by a demodulator 33, is deinterleaved by a bit deinterleaver 34, and is then decoded by an error correction decoder 35, thereby finally restoring the information bits.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above-described transmission and reception processes have been described within a minimum range required for a description of the features of the present invention and various processes required for data transmission may be added.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart illustrating a broadcast signal transmission and reception method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the broadcast signal transmission and reception method according to this embodiment of the present invention, input bits (information bits) are subjected to error-correction coding at step S210.

That is, at step S210, an n-bit codeword is generated by encoding k information bits using the error-correction coder.

In this case, step S210 may be performed as in an LDPC encoding method, which will be described later.

Furthermore, in the broadcast signal transmission and reception method, an interleaved codeword is generated by interleaving the n-bit codeword on a bit group basis at step S220.

In this case, the n-bit codeword may be an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15. The codeword having a length of 64800 may be divided into a total of 180 bit groups. Each of the bit groups may include 360 bits corresponding to the parallel factors of an LDPC codeword.

In this case, the interleaving may be performed on a bit group basis (by a unit of a bit group) in accordance with an interleaving sequence, which will be described later.

Furthermore, in the broadcast signal transmission and reception method, the encoded data is modulated at step S230.

That is, at step S230, the interleaved codeword is modulated using the modulator.

In this case, the modulator may be based on a concept including symbol mapper (symbol mapping device). In this case, the modulator may be a symbol mapping device performing 256-symbol mapping which maps codes onto 256 constellations (symbols).

In this case, the modulator may be a uniform modulator, such as a QAM modulator, or a non-uniform modulator.

The modulator may be a symbol mapping device performing NUC (Non-Uniform Constellation) symbol mapping which uses 256 constellations (symbols).

Furthermore, in the broadcast signal transmission and reception method, the modulated data is transmitted at step S240.

That is, at step S240, the modulated codeword is transmitted over the wireless channel via the antenna.

Furthermore, in the broadcast signal transmission and reception method, the received data is demodulated at step S250.

That is, at step S250, the signal transmitted over the wireless channel is received via the antenna of the receiver, and the received data is demodulated using the demodulator.

Furthermore, in the broadcast signal transmission and reception method, the demodulated data is deinterleaved at step S260. In this case, the deinterleaving of step S260 may be reverse to the operation of step S220.

Furthermore, in the broadcast signal transmission and reception method, the deinterleaved codeword is subjected to error correction decoding at step S270.

That is, at step S270, the information bits are finally restored by performing error correction decoding using the error correction decoder of the receiver.

In this case, step S270 corresponds to a process reverse to that of an LDPC encoding method, which will be described later.

An LDPC code is known as a code very close to the Shannon limit for an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, and has the advantages of asymptotically excellent performance and parallelizable decoding compared to a turbo code.

Generally, an LDPC code is defined by a low-density parity check matrix (PCM) that is randomly generated. However, a randomly generated LDPC code requires a large amount of memory to store a PCM, and requires a lot of time to access memory. In order to overcome these problems, a quasi-cyclic LDPC (QC-LDPC) code has been proposed. A QC-LDPC code that is composed of a zero matrix or a circulant permutation matrix (CPM) is defined by a PCM that is expressed by the following Equation 1:

$\begin{matrix} {{H = \begin{bmatrix} J^{a_{11}} & J^{a_{12}} & \ldots & J^{a_{1n}} \\ J^{a_{21}} & J^{a_{22}} & \ldots & J^{a_{2n}} \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ J^{a_{m\; 1}} & J^{a_{m\; 2}} & \ldots & J^{a_{mn}} \end{bmatrix}},{{{for}\mspace{14mu} a_{ij}} \in \left\{ {0,1,\ldots \mspace{14mu},{L - 1},\infty} \right\}}} & (1) \end{matrix}$

In this equation, J is a CPM having a size of L×L, and is given as the following Equation 2. In the following description, L may be 360.

$\begin{matrix} {J_{L \times L} = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1 & 0 & \ldots & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & \ldots & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \ldots & 1 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & \ldots & 0 \end{bmatrix}} & (2) \end{matrix}$

Furthermore, J^(i) is obtained by shifting an L×L identity matrix I(J⁰) to the right i (0≦i<L) times, and X° is an L×L zero matrix. Accordingly, in the case of a QC-LDPC code, it is sufficient if only index exponent i is stored in order to store J^(i), and thus the amount of memory required to store a PCM is considerably reduced.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a PCM corresponding to an LDPC code to according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the sizes of matrices A and C are g×K and (N−K−g)×(K+g), respectively, and are composed of an L×L zero matrix and a CPM, respectively. Furthermore, matrix Z is a zero matrix having a size of g×(N−K−g), matrix D is an identity matrix having a size of (N−K−g)×(N−K−g), and matrix B is a dual diagonal matrix having a size of g×g. In this case, the matrix B may be a matrix in which all elements except elements along a diagonal line and neighboring elements below the diagonal line are 0, and may be defined as the following Equation 3:

$\begin{matrix} {B_{g \times g} = \begin{bmatrix} I_{L \times L} & 0 & 0 & \ldots & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ I_{L \times L} & I_{L \times L} & 0 & \ldots & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & I_{L \times L} & I_{L \times L} & \vdots & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \ldots & I_{L \times L} & I_{L \times L} & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \ldots & 0 & I_{L \times L} & I_{L \times L} \end{bmatrix}} & (3) \end{matrix}$

where I_(L×L) is an identity matrix having a size of L×L.

That is, the matrix B may be a bit-wise dual diagonal matrix, or may be a block-wise dual diagonal matrix having identity matrices as its blocks, as indicated by Equation 3. The bit-wise dual diagonal matrix is disclosed in detail in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2007-0058438, etc.

In particular, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that when the matrix B is a bit-wise dual diagonal matrix, it is possible to perform conversion into a Quasi-cyclic form by applying row or column permutation to a PCM including the matrix B and having a structure illustrated in FIG. 3.

In this case, N is the length of a codeword, and K is the length of information.

The present invention proposes a newly designed QC-LDPC code in which the code rate thereof is 4/15 and the length of a codeword is 64800, as illustrated in the following Table 1. That is, the present invention proposes an LDPC code that is designed to receive information having a length of 17280 and generate an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800.

Table 1 illustrates the sizes of the matrices A, B, C, D and Z of the QC-LDPC code according to the present invention:

TABLE 1 Sizes Code rate Length A B C D Z 4/15 64800 1800 × 17280 1800 × 1800 45720 × 19080 45720 × 45720 1800 × 45720

The newly designed LDPC code may be represented in the form of a sequence (progression), an equivalent relationship is established between the sequence and matrix (parity bit check matrix), and the sequence may be represented, as follows:

Sequence Table 1st row: 276 1754 1780 3597 8549 15196 26305 27003 33883 37189 41042 41849 42356 2nd row: 730 873 927 9310 9867 17594 21969 25106 25922 31167 35434 37742 45866 3rd row: 925 1202 1564 2575 2831 2951 5193 13096 18363 20592 33786 34090 40900 4th row: 973 1045 1071 8545 8980 11983 18649 21323 22789 22843 26821 36720 37856 5th row: 402 1038 1689 2466 2893 13474 15710 24137 29709 30451 35568 35966 46436 6th row: 263 271 395 5089 5645 15488 16314 28778 29729 34350 34533 39608 45371 7th row: 387 1059 1306 1955 6990 20001 24606 28167 33802 35181 38481 38688 45140 8th row: 53 851 1750 3493 11415 18882 20244 23411 28715 30722 36487 38019 45416 9th row: 810 1044 1772 3906 5832 16793 17333 17910 23946 29650 34190 40673 45828 10th row: 97 491 948 12156 13788 24970 33774 37539 39750 39820 41195 46464 46820 11st row: 192 899 1283 3732 7310 13637 13810 19005 24227 26772 31273 37665 44005 12th row: 424 531 1300 4860 8983 10137 16323 16888 17933 22458 26917 27835 37931 13th row: 130 279 731 3024 6378 18838 19746 21007 22825 23109 28644 32048 34667 14th row: 938 1041 1482 9589 10065 11535 17477 25816 27966 35022 35025 42536 15th row: 170 454 1312 5326 6765 23408 24090 26072 33037 38088 42985 46413 16th row: 220 804 843 2921 4841 7760 8303 11259 21058 21276 34346 37604 17th row: 676 713 832 11937 12006 12309 16329 26438 34214 37471 38179 42420 18th row: 714 931 1580 6837 9824 11257 15556 26730 32053 34461 35889 45821 19th row: 28 1097 1340 8767 9406 17253 29558 32857 37856 38593 41781 47101 20th row: 158 722 754 14489 23851 28160 30371 30579 34963 44216 46462 47463 21st row: 833 1326 1332 7032 9566 11011 21424 26827 29789 31699 32876 37498 22nd row: 251 504 1075 4470 7736 11242 20397 32719 34453 36571 40344 46341 23rd row: 330 581 868 15168 20265 26354 33624 35134 38609 44965 45209 46909 24th row: 729 1643 1732 3946 4912 9615 19699 30993 33658 38712 39424 46799 25th row: 546 982 1274 9264 11017 11868 15674 16277 19204 28606 39063 43331 26th row: 73 1160 1196 4334 12560 13583 14703 18270 18719 19327 38985 46779 27th row: 1147 1625 1759 3767 5912 11599 18561 19330 29619 33671 43346 44098 28th row: 104 1507 1586 9387 17890 23532 27008 27861 30966 33579 35541 39801 29th row: 1700 1746 1793 4941 7814 13746 20375 27441 30262 30392 35385 42848 30th row: 183 555 1029 3090 5412 8148 19662 23312 23933 28179 29962 35514 31st row: 891 908 1127 2827 4077 4376 4570 26923 27456 33699 43431 46071 32nd row: 404 1110 1782 6003 14452 19247 26998 30137 31404 31624 46621 47366 33rd row: 886 1627 1704 8193 8980 9648 10928 16267 19774 35111 38545 44735 34th row: 268 380 1214 4797 5168 9109 9288 17992 21309 33210 36210 41429 35th row: 572 1121 1165 6944 7114 20978 23540 25863 26190 26365 41521 44690 36th row: 18 185 496 5885 6165 20468 23895 24745 31226 33680 37665 38587 37th row: 289 527 1118 11275 12015 18088 22805 24679 28262 30160 34892 43212 38th row: 658 926 1589 7634 16231 22193 25320 26057 26512 27498 29472 34219 39th row: 337 801 1525 2023 3512 16031 26911 32719 35620 39035 43779 44316 40th row: 248 534 670 6217 11430 24090 26509 28712 33073 33912 38048 39813 41st row: 82 1556 1575 7879 7892 14714 22404 22773 25531 34170 38203 38254 42nd row: 247 313 1224 3694 14304 24033 26394 28101 37455 37859 38997 41344 43rd row: 790 887 1418 2811 3288 9049 9704 13303 14262 38149 40109 40477 44th row: 1310 1384 1471 3716 8250 25371 26329 26997 30138 40842 41041 44921 45th row: 86 288 367 1860 8713 18211 22628 22811 28342 28463 40415 45845 46th row: 719 1438 1741 8258 10797 29270 29404 32096 34433 34616 36030 45597 47th row: 215 1182 1364 8146 9949 10498 18603 19304 19803 23685 43304 45121 48th row: 1243 1496 1537 8484 8851 16589 17665 20152 24283 28993 34274 39795 49th row: 6320 6785 15841 16309 20512 25804 27421 28941 43871 44647 50th row: 2207 2713 4450 12217 16506 21188 23933 28789 38099 42392 51st row: 14064 14307 14599 14866 17540 18881 21065 25823 30341 36963 52nd row: 14259 14396 17037 26769 29219 29319 31689 33013 35631 37319 53rd row: 7798 10495 12868 14298 17221 23344 31908 39809 41001 41965

An LDPC code that is represented in the form of a sequence is being widely used in the DVB standard.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an LDPC code presented in the form of a sequence is encoded, as follows. It is assumed that there is an information block S=(s₀, s₁, . . . , s_(K−1)) having an information size K. The LDPC encoder generates a codeword A=(λ₀, λ₁, λ₂, . . . , λ_(N−1)) having a size of N=K+M₁+M₂ using the information block S having a size K. In this case, M₁=g, and M₂=N−K−g. Furthermore, M₁ is the size of parity bits corresponding to the dual diagonal matrix B, and M₂ is the size of parity bits corresponding to the identity matrix D. The encoding process is performed, as follows:

Initialization:

λ_(i) =s _(i) for i=0,1, . . . , K−1

p _(j)=0 for j=0,1, . . . , M ₁ +M ₂−1  (4)

First information bit λ₀ is accumulated at parity bit addresses specified in the 1st row of the sequence of the Sequence Table. For example, in an LDPC code having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15, an accumulation process is as follows:

p₂₇₆ = p₂₇₆ ⊕ λ₀ p₁₇₅₄ = p₁₇₅₄ ⊕ λ₀ p₁₇₈₀ = p₁₇₈₀ ⊕ λ₀ p₃₅₉₇ = p₃₅₉₇ ⊕ λ₀ p₈₅₄₉ = p₈₅₄₉ ⊕ λ₀ p₁₅₁₉₆ = p₁₅₁₉₆ ⊕ λ₀ p₂₆₃₀₅ = p₂₆₃₀₅ ⊕ λ₀ p₂₇₀₀₃ = p₂₇₀₀₃ ⊕ λ₀ p₃₃₈₈₃ = p₃₃₈₈₃ ⊕ λ₀ p₃₇₁₈₉ = p₃₇₁₈₉ ⊕ λ₀ p₄₁₀₄₂ = p₄₁₀₄₂ ⊕ λ₀ p₄₁₈₄₉ = p₄₁₈₄₉ ⊕ λ₀ p₄₂₃₅₆ = p₄₂₃₅₆ ⊕ λ₀ where the addition ⊕ occurs in GF(2).

The subsequent L−1 information bits, that is, λ_(m), m=1, 2, . . . , L−1, are accumulated at parity bit addresses that are calculated by the following Equation 5:

(x+m×Q ₁)mod M ₁ if x<M ₁

M ₁+{(x−M ₁ +m×Q ₂)mod M ₂} if x≧M ₁  (5)

where x denotes the addresses of parity bits corresponding to the first information bit λ₀, that is, the addresses of the parity bits specified in the first row of the sequence of the Sequence Table, Q₁=M₁/L, Q₂=M₂/L, and L=360. Furthermore, Q₁ and Q₂ are defined in the following Table 2. For example, for an LDPC code having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15, M₁=1800, Q₁=5, M₂=45720, Q₂=127 and L=360, and the following operations are performed on the second bit λ₁ using Equation 5:

p₂₈₁ = p₂₈₁ ⊕ λ₁ p₁₇₅₉ = p₁₇₅₉ ⊕ λ₁ p₁₇₈₅ = p₁₇₈₅ ⊕ λ₁ p₃₇₂₄ = p₃₇₂₄ ⊕ λ₁ p₈₆₇₆ = p₈₆₇₆ ⊕ λ₁ p₁₅₃₂₃ = p₁₅₃₂₃ ⊕ λ₁ p₂₆₄₃₂ = p₂₆₄₃₂ ⊕ λ₁ p₂₇₁₃₀ = p₂₇₁₃₀ ⊕ λ₁ p₃₄₀₁₀ = p₃₄₀₁₀ ⊕ λ₁ p₃₇₃₁₆ = p₃₇₃₁₆ ⊕ λ₁ p₄₁₁₆₉ = p₄₁₁₆₉ ⊕ λ₁ p₄₁₉₇₆ = p₄₁₉₇₆ ⊕ λ₁ p₄₂₄₈₃ = p₄₂₄₈₃ ⊕ λ₁

Table 2 illustrates the sizes of M₁, Q₁, M₂ and Q₂ of the designed QC-LDPC code:

TABLE 2 Sizes Code rate Length M₁ M₂ Q₁ Q₂ 4/15 64800 1800 45720 5 127

The addresses of parity bit accumulators for new 360 information bits from λ_(L) to λ_(2L-1) are calculated and accumulated from Equation 5 using the second row of the sequence.

In a similar manner, for all groups composed of new L information bits, the addresses of parity bit accumulators are calculated and accumulated from Equation 5 using new rows of the sequence.

After all the information bits from λ₀ to λ_(K−1) have been exhausted, the operations of the following Equation 6 are sequentially performed from i=1:

p _(i) =p _(i) ⊕p _(i−1) for i=0,1, . . . , M ₁−1  (6)

Thereafter, when a parity interleaving operation, such as that of the following Equation 7, is performed, parity bits corresponding to the dual diagonal matrix B are generated:

λ_(K+L·t+s) =p _(Q) ₁ _(·s+t) for 0≦s<L, 0≦t<Q ₁  (7)

When the parity bits corresponding to the dual diagonal matrix B have been generated using K information bits λ₀, λ₁, . . . , λ_(K−1), parity bits corresponding to the identity matrix D are generated using the M₁ generated parity bits λ_(K), λ_(K+1), . . . , λ_(K+M) ₁ ⁻¹.

For all groups composed of L information bits from λ_(K) to λ_(K+M) ₁ ⁻¹, the addresses of parity bit accumulators are calculated using the new rows (starting with a row immediately subsequent to the last row used when the parity bits corresponding to the dual diagonal matrix B have been generated) of the sequence and Equation 5, and related operations are performed.

When a parity interleaving operation, such as that of the following Equation 8, is performed after all the information bits from λ_(K) to λ_(K+M) ₁ ⁻¹ have been exhausted, parity bits corresponding to the identity matrix D are generated:

λ_(K+M) ₁ _(+L·t+s) =p _(M) ₁ _(+Q) ₂ _(·s+t) for 0≦s<L, 0≦t<Q ₂  (8)

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the bit groups of an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800.

Referring to FIG. 4, it can be seen that an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 is divided into 180 bit groups (a 0th group to a 179th group).

In this case, 360 may be the parallel factor (PF) of the LDPC codeword. That is, since the PF is 360, the LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 is divided into 180 bit groups, as illustrated in FIG. 4, and each of the bit groups includes 360 bits.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the bit groups of an LDPC codeword having a length of 16200.

Referring to FIG. 5, it can be seen that an LDPC codeword having a length of 16200 is divided into 45 bit groups (a 0th group to a 44th group).

In this case, 360 may be the parallel factor (PF) of the LDPC codeword. That is, since the PF is 360, the LDPC codeword having a length of 16200 is divided into 45 bit groups, as illustrated in FIG. 5, and each of the bit groups includes 360 bits.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating interleaving that is performed on a bit group basis in accordance with an interleaving sequence.

Referring to FIG. 6, it can be seen that interleaving is performed by changing the order of bit groups by a designed interleaving sequence.

For example, it is assumed that an interleaving sequence for an LDPC codeword having a length of 16200 is as follows:

interleaving sequence={24 34 15 11 2 28 17 25 5 38 19 13 6 39 1 14 33 37 29 12 42 31 30 32 36 40 26 35 44 4 16 8 20 43 21 7 0 18 23 3 10 41 9 27 22}

Then, the order of the bit groups of the LDPC codeword illustrated in FIG. 4 is changed into that illustrated in FIG. 6 by the interleaving sequence.

That is, it can be seen that each of the LDPC codeword 610 and the interleaved codeword 620 includes 45 bit groups, and it can be also seen that, by the interleaving sequence, the 24th bit group of the LDPC codeword 610 is changed into the 0th bit group of the interleaved LDPC codeword 620, the 34th bit group of the LDPC codeword 610 is changed into the 1st bit group of the interleaved LDPC codeword 620, the 15th bit group of the LDPC codeword 610 is changed into the 2nd bit group of the interleaved LDPC codeword 620, and the 11st bit group of the LDPC codeword 610 is changed into the 3rd bit group of the interleaved LDPC codeword 620, and the 2nd bit group of the LDPC codeword 610 is changed into the 4th bit group of the interleaved LDPC codeword 620.

An LDPC codeword (u₀, u₁, . . . , u_(N) _(ldpc) ⁻¹) having a length of N_(ldpc) is divided into N_(group)=N_(ldpc)/360 bit groups, as in Equation 9 below:

X _(j) ={u _(k)|360×j≦k<360×(j+1), 0≦k<N _(ldpc)} for 0≦j<N _(group)  (9)

where X_(j) is an j-th bit group, and each X_(j) is composed of 360 bits.

The LDPC codeword divided into the bit groups is interleaved, as in Equation 10 below:

Y _(j) =X _(π(j)) 0≦j≦N _(group)  (10)

where Y_(j) is an interleaved j-th bit group, and π(j) is a permutation order for bit group-based interleaving (bit group-unit interleaving). The permutation order corresponds to the interleaving sequence of Equation 11 below:

interleaving sequence={13 121 137 29 27 1 70 116 35 132 109 51 55 58 11 67 136 25 145 7 75 107 45 21 127 52 90 22 100 123 69 112 155 92 151 59 5 179 44 87 56 139 65 170 46 0 124 78 166 8 61 97 120 103 4 19 64 79 28 134 93 86 60 135 126 53 63 14 122 17 150 76 42 39 23 153 95 66 50 141 176 34 161 26 106 10 43 85 131 2 147 148 144 54 115 146 101 172 114 119 3 96 133 99 167 164 9 142 68 149 94 83 16 175 73 38 143 159 130 84 169 18 138 102 72 47 32 160 82 81 168 30 12 173 156 158 125 98 62 178 48 163 117 110 91 37 80 105 31 174 111 49 113 108 74 157 128 24 118 40 88 177 154 6 162 129 77 36 165 20 89 140 15 33 104 152 71 171 57 41}  (11)

That is, when each of the codeword and the interleaved codeword includes 180 bit groups ranging from a 0th bit group to a 179th bit group, the interleaving sequence of Equation 11 means that the 13st bit group of the codeword becomes the 0th bit group of the interleaved codeword, the 121th bit group of the codeword becomes the 1st bit group of the interleaved codeword, the 137th bit group of the codeword becomes the 2nd bit group of the interleaved codeword, the 29th bit group of the codeword becomes the 3rd bit group of the interleaved codeword, . . . , the 57th bit group of the codeword becomes the 178th bit group of the interleaved codeword, and the 41th bit group of the codeword becomes the 179th bit group of the interleaved codeword.

In particular, the interleaving sequence of Equation 11 has been optimized for a case where 256-symbol mapping (NUC symbol mapping) is employed and an LDPC coder having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15 is used.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a bit interleaver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, the bit interleaver according to the present embodiment includes memories 710 and 730 and a processor 720.

The memory 710 stores an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15.

The processor 720 generates an interleaved codeword by interleaving the LDPC codeword on a bit group basis corresponding to the parallel factor of the LDPC codeword.

In this case, the parallel factor may be 360. In this case, each of the bit groups may include 360 bits.

In this case, the LDPC codeword may be divided into 180 bit groups, as in Equation 9.

In this case, the interleaving may be performed using Equation 10 using permutation order.

In this case, the permutation order may correspond to the interleaving sequence represented by Equation 11.

The memory 730 provides the interleaved codeword to a modulator for 256-symbol mapping.

In this case, the modulator may be a symbol mapping device performing NUC (Non-Uniform Constellation) symbol mapping.

The memories 710 and 730 may correspond to various types of hardware for storing a set of bits, and may correspond to a data structure, such as an array, a list, a stack, a queue or the like.

In this case, the memories 710 and 730 may not be physically separate devices, but may correspond to different addresses of a physically single device. That is, the memories 710 and 730 are not physically distinguished from each other, but are merely logically distinguished from each other.

The error-correction coder 13 illustrated in FIG. 1 may be implemented in the same structure as in FIG. 7.

That is, the error-correction coder may include memories and a processor. In this case, the first memory is a memory that stores an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15, and a second memory is a memory that is initialized to 0.

The memories may correspond to λ_(i)(i=0, 1, . . . , N−1) and P_(j)(j=0, 1, . . . , M₁+M₂−1), respectively.

The processor may generate an LDPC codeword corresponding to information bits by performing accumulation with respect to the memory using a sequence corresponding to a parity check matrix (PCM).

In this case, the accumulation may be performed at parity bit addresses that are updated using the sequence of the above Sequence Table.

In this case, the LDPC codeword may include a systematic part λ₀, λ₁, . . . , λ_(K−1) corresponding to the information bits and having a length of 17280 (=K), a first parity part λ_(K), λ_(K+1), . . . , λ_(K+M) ₁ ⁻¹ corresponding to a dual diagonal matrix included in the PCM and having a length of 1800 (=M₁=g), and a second parity part λ_(K+M) ₁ λ_(K+M) ₁ ₊₁, . . . , λ_(K+M) ₁ _(+M) ₂ ⁻¹ corresponding to an identity matrix included in the PCM and having a length of 45720 (=M₂).

In this case, the sequence may have a number of rows equal to the sum (17280/360+1800/360=53) of a value obtained by dividing the length of the systematic part, i.e., 17280, by a CPM size L corresponding to the PCM, i.e., 360, and a value obtained by dividing the length M₁ of the first parity part, i.e., 1800, by 360.

As described above, the sequence may be represented by the above Sequence Table.

In this case, the second memory may have a size corresponding to the sum M₁+M₂ of the length M₁ of the first parity part and the length M₂ of the second parity part.

In this case, the parity bit addresses may be updated based on the results of comparing each x of the previous parity bit addresses, specified in respective rows of the sequence, with the length M₁ of the first parity part.

That is, the parity bit addresses may be updated using Equation 5. In this case, x may be the previous parity bit addresses, m may be an information bit index that is an integer larger than 0 and smaller than L, L may be the CPM size of the PCM, Q₁ may be M₁/L, M₁ may be the size of the first parity part, Q₂ may be M₂/L, and M₂ may be the size of the second parity part.

In this case, it may be possible to perform the accumulation while repeatedly changing the rows of the sequence by the CPM size L (=360) of the PCM, as described above.

In this case, the first parity part λ_(K), λ_(K+1), . . . , λ_(K+M) ₁ ⁻¹ may be generated by performing parity interleaving using the first memory and the second memory, as described in conjunction with Equation 7.

In this case, the second parity part λ_(K+M), λ_(K+M) ₁ ₊₁, . . . , λ_(K+M) ₁ _(+M) ₂ ⁻¹ may be generated by performing parity interleaving using the first memory and the second memory after generating the first parity part λ_(K), λ_(K+1), . . . , λ_(K+M) ₁ ⁻¹ and then performing the accumulation using the first parity part λ_(K), λ_(K+1), . . . , λ_(K+M) ₁ ⁻¹ and the sequence, as described in conjunction with Equation 8.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart illustrating a bit interleaving method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, in the bit interleaving method according to the present embodiment, an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15 is stored at step S810.

In this case, the LDPC codeword may be represented by (u₀, u₁, . . . , u_(N) _(ldpc) ⁻¹) (where N_(ldpc) is 64800), and may be divided into 180 bit groups each composed of 360 bits, as in Equation 9.

Furthermore, in the bit interleaving method according to the present embodiment, an interleaved codeword is generated by interleaving the LDPC codeword on a bit group basis at step S820.

In this case, the size of the bit group may correspond to the parallel factor of the LDPC codeword.

In this case, the interleaving may be performed using Equation 10 using permutation order.

In this case, the permutation order may correspond to the interleaving sequence represented by Equation 11.

In this case, the parallel factor may be 360, and each of the bit groups may include 360 bits.

In this case, the LDPC codeword may be divided into 180 bit groups, as in Equation 9.

Moreover, in the bit interleaving method according to the present embodiment, the interleaved codeword is output to a modulator for 256-symbol mapping at step 830.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an intra-BICM bit interleaver that can effectively distribute burst errors occurring in a broadcasting system channel.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a bit interleaver that is optimized for an LDPC coder having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15 and a modulator performing 256-symbol mapping and, thus, can be applied to next-generation broadcasting systems, such as ATSC 3.0.

Although the specific embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A bit interleaver, comprising: a first memory configured to store a low-density parity check (LDPC) codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 4/15; a processor configured to generate an interleaved codeword by interleaving the LDPC codeword on a bit group basis, the size of the bit group corresponding to a parallel factor of the LDPC codeword; and a second memory configured to provide the interleaved codeword to a modulator for 256-symbol mapping.
 2. The bit interleaver of claim 1, wherein the 256-symbol mapping is a Non-Uniform Constellation (NUC) symbol mapping which corresponds to 256 constellations.
 3. The bit interleaver of claim 2, wherein the parallel factor is 360, and the bit group includes 360 bits.
 4. The bit interleaver of claim 3, wherein the LDPC codeword is represented by (u₀, u₁, . . . , u_(N) _(ldpc) ⁻¹) (where N_(ldpc) is 64800), and is divided into 180 bit groups each including 360 bits, as in the following equation: X _(j) ={u _(k)|360×j≦k<360×(j+1), 0≦k<N _(ldpc)} for 0≦j<N _(group) where X_(j) is an j-th bit group, N_(ldpc) is 64800, and N_(group) is
 180. 5. The bit interleaver of claim 4, wherein the interleaving is performed using the following equation using permutation order: Y _(j) =X _(π(j)) 0≦j≦N _(group) where X_(j) is the j-th bit group, Y_(j) is an interleaved j-th bit group, and π(j) is a permutation order for bit group-based interleaving.
 6. The bit interleaver of claim 5, wherein the permutation order corresponds to an interleaving sequence represented by the following equation: interleaving sequence={13 121 137 29 27 1 70 116 35 132 109 51 55 58 11 67 136 25 145 7 75 107 45 21 127 52 90 22 100 123 69 112 155 92 151 59 5 179 44 87 56 139 65 170 46 0 124 78 166 8 61 97 120 103 4 19 64 79 28 134 93 86 60 135 126 53 63 14 122 17 150 76 42 39 23 153 95 66 50 141 176 34 161 26 106 10 43 85 131 2 147 148 144 54 115 146 101 172 114 119 3 96 133 99 167 164 9 142 68 149 94 83 16 175 73 38 143 159 130 84 169 18 138 102 72 47 32 160 82 81 168 30 12 173 156 158 125 98 62 178 48 163 117 110 91 37 80 105 31 174 111 49 113 108 74 157 128 24 118 40 88 177 154 6 162 129 77 36 165 20 89 140 15 33 104 152 71 171 57 41} 